Nanostructured led

ABSTRACT

The device according to the invention comprises a nanostructured LED with a first group of nanowires protruding from a first area of a substrate and a contacting means in a second area of the substrate. Each nanowire of the first group of nanowires comprises a p-i-n junction and a top portion of each nanowire or at least one selection of nanowires is covered with a light-reflecting contact layer. The contacting means of the second area is in electrical contact with the bottom of the nanowires, the light-reflecting contact layer being in electrical contact with the contacting means of the second area via the p-i-n junction. Thus when a voltage is applied between the contacting means of the second area and the light-reflecting contact layer, light is generated within the nanowire. On top of the light-reflecting contact layer, a first group of contact pads for flip-chip bonding can be provided, distributed and separated to equalize the voltage across the layer to reduce the average serial resistance.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to LEDs. In particular the inventionrelates to nanostructured LEDs.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Nanowire based LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) are comprised ofsemiconductor nanowires or arrays of semiconductor nanowires grown on asubstrate, like for example silicon or GaN. Typically on such substratea planar buffer layer is grown first and subsequently an array ofnanowires is grown on the surface of the buffer layer. The buffer layeris used as the base layer for growing the nanowires. Additionally, itcan serve for electrical current transport. The buffer layer is usuallytransparent for the light emitted by the LED.

Each nanowire protrudes from the buffer layer and contains multipleregions of materials forming p-i-n junctions around the nanowire core oralong the nanowire axis. When charge carriers are injected into therespective p- and n-regions, they recombine in the i-region, and thisrecombination generates light. The light is generated inside eachnanowire randomly and emitted in all directions. One problem with such astructure is that a substantial fraction of the generated light iswasted, as only a portion is directed in a desired direction.

Another problem associated with nanowire based LEDs is that thisstructure relies on the conductivity of the buffer layer for currenttransport into the active region, the p-i-n-junction. For large devicesthe distance between the contact and the nanowires within the LED can beconsiderable, causing voltage drop and resistive losses over the bufferlayer. Carrier recombination and light generation will happenpredominantly near the contact pad on the n-contact side causing currentcrowding and non-uniform luminance. This problem remains when mountingthe LED device onto a carrier supplying the LED device with current forlight generation.

The difference between a pn-junction and a p-i-n-junction is that thelatter has a wider active region. The wider active region allows for ahigher probability of recombination in the i-region, thus generation oflight, although both pn- and p-i-n-junctions can be used for lightgeneration in LED devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The prior art has drawbacks with regard to being able to provide ananostructured LED having high efficiency and being suitable for largescale production.

The object of the present invention is to overcome at least some of thedrawbacks of the prior art. This is achieved by devices as defined inclaim 1.

A device according to the invention comprises a nanostructured LED withat least one nanowire and contacting means. Each nanowire protrudes froma buffer layer on a substrate and comprises a pn- or p-i-n-junction anda top portion of each nanowire or at least one selection of nanowires iscovered with a light-reflecting or transparent contact layer. Thecontacting means is in electrical contact with the bottom portion ofeach nanowire, the light-reflecting or transparent contact layer beingin electrical contact with the contacting means via the pn- orp-i-n-junction. Thus when a voltage is applied between the contactingmeans and the light-reflecting or transparent contact layer, light isgenerated in the active region in the nanowire. On top of the bufferlayer, a first group of contact pads for flip-chip bonding aredistributed and separated to reduce the average series resistance.

Such a nanostructured LED can be placed on a carrier having contact padscorresponding to the position of p-contact pads and n-contact pads onthe nanowire LED chip and attached using soldering, ultrasonic welding,bonding or by the use of electrically conductive glue. The contact padson the carrier can be electrically connected to the appropriate powersupply lead of the LED package.

One object of the invention is to overcome problems related to flip-chipbonded LED's, namely to increase efficiency, and decrease losses relatedto series resistance in the buffer layer. It is further an advantage ofthe invention to exhibit low energy consumption.

One further object of the invention is to provide a nanowire LEDcomprising one or more contact groups of nanowires that can beexclusively and individually addressed.

Embodiments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims. Otherobjects, advantages and novel features of the invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description of examples ofembodiments of the invention when considered in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawings, wherein

FIG. 1 shows a schematic structure of a nanowire LED

FIG. 2 a) shows the nanowire LED with a bottom contact and a top contactthat strictly defines the active area of the LED, and b) shows thenanowire LED with two active areas, that can be addressed exclusivelyand individually

FIG. 3 illustrates a nanowire LED with a top contact and a bottomcontact

FIG. 4 is a suggestion with several individual contacts on how to designthe contact pattern on a nanowire LED

FIG. 5 is another suggestion with several individual contacts on how todesign the contact pattern on a nanowire LED

FIG. 6 shows the nanowire structure bonded onto a carrier with thecontact bumps between the p- and n-contacts

FIG. 7 shows a LED device with areas between the contact groups ofnanowires where the nanowires have been removed that works as coolingflanges

FIG. 8 shows a flip-chip LED mounted on a carrier with controlelectronics

FIG. 9 shows how a LED device can be used as a smart head-light in avehicle

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments to be described in the following are all based onnanostructured LED/LED's, and a prior art version of such can be foundin WO2008048704.

In the following discussion the term nanostructure or nanoelement isintended to mean a structure having at least two dimensions not greaterthan about 1 μm.

In one embodiment, FIG. 1, of a nanostructured LED according to theinvention, the nanowires 110 protrude from a substrate or a buffer layer120 deposited on a substrate (the substrate not shown in the figure),where the substrate or buffer layer 120 can be Si, Ge, Al₂O₃, SiC,Quartz, glass, GaN or any other material suitable for nanowire growthand further processing. The buffer layer 120 can be made of a materialdifferent than the substrate material. The buffer layer 120 is usuallychosen so as to match the desired nanowire material, and thus form agrowth base for the nanowires later in the process. That means that thebuffer layer 120 is chosen so that the lattice parameters of thenanowires and the buffer layer admit nanowire growth. The growth ofnanowires can be achieved by utilizing methods described in the abovereferred application, in which well known mask techniques result innanowires with a pn- or p-i-n-junction 160. The nanowires can be of anysemiconductor material, although III-V semiconductors such as GaN, InP,GaAs, AlInGaN, AlGaN and InGaN etc. are expedient for the production ofLEDs. In some designated areas, the nanowires are then eliminated byetching down to the buffer layer 120 resulting in a first area where thenanowires protrude from the substrate, and a second area, free fromnanowires, and in electrical contact with the bottom portion 145 of thenanowires in the first area. In the second area, a metal or highly dopedsemiconductor is arranged to form the contacting means. In thefollowing, the wording p-i-n-junction is intended to include both pn-and p-i-n-junctions unless otherwise indicated.

Thus, in principal, the substrate is covered with nanowires except atthe location of the first group of contact pads 190 contacting thebuffer layer or substrate, where the nanowires have been removed.According to the invention, a second group of contact pad(s) 180 andlight-reflecting or transparent contact layer 130 is defined on thenanowires 110 according to FIG. 2 a, and thus strictly defines the lightemitting active area of the LED device. All nanowires 110 locatedoutside the area defined by the second group of contact pad(s) 180 andthe light-reflecting or transparent layer 130 will be electrically dead,and will not contribute to the formation of light upon an appliedvoltage between the first group of contact pad(s) 190 and the secondgroup of contact pad(s) 180. There is no current leakage to nanowireslocated outside the active area. Thus, the nanowire technology offers aunique ability to allow strict definition of active areas by the secondgroup of contact pads, which is not possible in planar technology.

FIG. 2 b illustrates an embodiment of the present invention where thereare two contact pads of the second group of contact pad(s) 180. Asdescribed above, only the nanowires 110 located under the second groupof contact pad(s) 180 and the light reflecting or transparent layer 130will be active in the generation of light when a voltage is applied. Thedistribution of the, in FIG. 2 b two contacts, on top of the nanowires,makes it possible to exclusively and individually control the twocontact groups of nanowires defined by the second group of contactpad(s) 180 and the light reflecting or transparent layer 130. Sincethere is no leakage to nanowires beside the active areas, the resolutionof the active areas is strictly determined by the resolution of thecontact pattern. Thus, a substrate having a multitude of contact groupsof nanowires, where all the contact groups of nanowires can beexclusively and individually addressed can be used to form for exampledisplays, Red-Green-Blue-LED setups (RGB), dimmers, head-lights forvehicles, etc.

Referring to FIG. 3 it can be seen that a metallic reflector forming alight-reflecting contact layer 130, or mirror layer, is formed on thetop portion 140 of the protruding nanowires in the first area. Thelight-reflecting contact layer 130 can be formed in several ways,although using a PVD (Physical Vapour Deposition) method and well-knownmask techniques is the preferred method. The reflector is preferablymade of aluminum or silver, but other metals or metal alloys may also beused. The purpose of the light-reflecting contact layer 130 is toprevent light from leaving the structure in a direction other than thepreferred direction, and to focus the emitted light to one singledirection. Additionally, the light-reflecting contact layer 130 alsousually functions as a top contact to the nanowires.

Nanowire based LEDs are either front-emitting or back-emitting, i.e. thelight generated within the nanowires are emitted from the top of thenanowires, or through the bottom of the nanowires, the buffer layer andthe substrate, respectively. Nanowire-based LED devices as such, areusually mounted on a carrier that provides mechanical support andelectrical connections. The carrier should not absorb light or limit thelight emission from the device. One way to construct a LED with improvedefficiency is to make a flip-chip device. A metallic layer with highreflectivity in the visible region of the light spectra is formed on topof the nanowires. The substrate, on which the nanowires have been grown,is removed as a part of the process, leaving the buffer layer 120, toallow for the light to be emitted through said buffer layer 120 whichhas formed a base for the nanowires. Emitted light directed towards thetop of the nanowires is then reflected when it encounters the metalliclayer, thus creating a clearly dominating direction for the lightleaving the structure as shown in FIG. 3. This way of producing thestructure allows for a much larger fraction of the emitted light to beguided in a desired direction, increasing the efficiency of the LED.

To be able to attach the structure to a carrier wafer 280 (FIG. 6) or amicro electronic structure, contact pads have to be formed on the bufferlayer 120, also called the bottom layer, and on the light-reflectingcontact layer 130, called the top layer. A first way of doing this is toform one contact on the buffer layer and one contact on the mirrorlayer, letting the layer itself distribute the current to the nanowires.This will make it impossible to address a nanowire or group of nanowiresindependently of the rest of the nanowires or groups of nanowires, sinceat least one the contact pads of one contact layer needs to bedistributed to enable individual addressing of groups of nanowires. Inaddition, one single contact for each contact layer will give rise tolosses such as, for instance, resistive losses since the conductiondistance in the layer can be relatively long. A second preferred way offorming the contacts is to form several contact pads and distribute themover the buffer layer 120 surface, for example by creating a layer ofinterleaving arrays of contact pads, to equalize the current density onthe surface. This improves the efficiency of the LED device bydecreasing resistive losses originating from series resistance in thebuffer layer. The effect resistive losses become more and more dominantas the resistivity of the layer increases. In the case of a metal layerhaving low resistivity, the gain is small, but for a layer having higherresistivity such as a semiconductor buffer layer, the gain can besignificant. The first group of contact pads 190 on the buffer layer maybe called the cathode, and the second group of contact pads 180 on topof the light-reflecting contact layer may be called the anode.

A contact group of nanowires comprises at least one nanowire, butpreferably each contact group comprises a plurality of nanowires. Havinga plurality of nanowires in a group of nanowires increases reliabilityof the device, since the group of nanowires in that case does notstrongly depend upon the functionality of one single nanowire. However,the term group in this text is defined so as to include the case where acontact group of nanowires comprises the case with only one nanowire.

The method of using distributed contact pads is also applicable on thesecond area on top of the light-reflecting contact layer 130. This layeris very often a metallic layer, but it can also be built up of compoundmaterial having high optical reflectivity and relatively high electricalconductivity. The distributed contact pads will, if the light-reflectingcontact layer 130 is properly adapted, enable exclusive and individualaddressing of at least one group of nanowires. Another essentialadvantage of using distributed contact pads even in the case of ametallic light-reflecting contact layer 130 is that an increased numberof contact points offer an improved structural support in the case wherethe structure is bonded onto a carrier wafer 280.

For the first group of contact pads 190 the distribution can be done inmany different ways, and in many geometric configurations, utilizing inprinciple any pattern, as long as the contact pads do not short-circuitthe top layer and the bottom layer. An advantage of the distributedcontact pads is that they can equalize the current distribution to thelayer where they are applied, which can also be achieved with thedistributed contact pads in an irregular pattern. Thus, the geometricarrangement for the contact pads is not critical, as long as the currentdistribution effect is achieved.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the contact pattern for thecontact pads is formed using a plurality of arrays for the top layer andthe bottom layer respectively, and simply letting the arrays of contactpads for the top layer and the bottom layer be laterally displaced inrelation to each other. The contact pads for the bottom layer can all beconnected through for example the buffer layer, and thus be distributedbetween nanowires or groups of nanowires, as long as this contact layeris not used for individual addressing. The contact pads for the toplayer are also distributed, but not at all connected to each otherthrough the light-reflecting contact layer 130 as shown in FIGS. 7 and8, when this contact layer is used for individual addressing.

In another embodiment, the first group of contact pads 190 and thesecond group of contact pads 180 for the top layer and the bottom layerare formed as arrays perpendicular to each other seen in FIG. 4. Anelectrically insulating portion 250 that can be electrically insulatingmaterial or just absence of conducting material is separating the groupsas seen in the design in FIGS. 4 and 5. In FIG. 5, the contact pads areformed in a matrix pattern with a quadratic or rectangular shape for thefirst and the second area, and then laterally displaced in relation toeach other. Also combinations of the geometrical contact pad setups arepossible. The design in FIGS. 4 and 5 and combinations thereof show justa few possible ways to form the conduction pattern of the device, butthere are of course an infinite number of possible solutions.

The contact pads can also act as soldering bumps 260 (FIGS. 6 and 8) inthe bonding process if the LED structure is attached to another wafer bysoldering. If type of material in the contact pad and wafer are chosenappropriately, the two units can be thermally bonded to each other.Another way is to mount soldering bumps onto the contact pads beforebonding. A flip-chip LED device bonded onto a carrier wafer usingsoldering bumps can be seen in FIGS. 6 and 8. The shape on the solderingbumps is not in any way intended to show the shape in a real situation,but formed as such to ease the understanding of the figure.

In one embodiment of the present invention according to FIG. 7, thenanowires have one common contact, for example the buffer layer, for thefirst group of contact pads 190. The second group of contact pads 180and the light-reflecting contact layer 130 is distributed andelectrically separated, such that groups of nanowires can be addressedexclusively and individually, independently of the other groups ofnanowires, such that a group of nanowires represents for example onepixel. This enables having an arrangement where different groups ofnanowires have different properties, for example different groups can beadapted to represent a colour in a Red-Green-Blue (RGB) setup. In thefigure (FIG. 7), the contact groups of nanowires are separated by anetched trench. However, this is not necessary in the case of distributedcontacts for nanowires. The electrically dead area between the contactgroups of nanowires can also be nanowires that are not active, since theactive area, that is, the active contact group of nanowires, is strictlydefined by the light-reflecting contact layer and the contact pads, andeach active group of nanowires can be individually addressed. This isnot the case in planar technology fabrication of LEDs, where leakagecurrents etc. will destroy the individuality of LEDs.

Letting the individual contact areas represent different colours in anRGB setup can be done in several ways. A group of nanowires can beadapted to respond differently to different voltage levels, such that afirst voltage level represents red light, a second voltage levelrepresents green light, and a third voltage level represents blue light.Accordingly, the contact groups of nanowires can be controlled to emitlight of a desired wavelength, thus a desired colour. Another possiblesolution is to let different contact groups of nanowires comprisenanowires with different material composition, and thus nanowires ofdifferent groups respond differently to the same voltage level. In thesame manner, a contact group of nanowires can be adapted to respond toan applied voltage such that an increased voltage results in anincreased intensity, thus higher voltage results in a stronger emissionof that particular group of nanowires. In that way, the intensity of thecoloured emission, for example RGB, can be controlled colour by colour.

In another embodiment, a multitude of groups of nanowires are arrangedon a substrate, where it is possible to address every group exclusivelyand individually. The groups of nanowires can all have the sameproperties when a voltage is applied, here called an active group,although the number of active groups can be varied depending on theamount of light desired. This can be very useful, for example when usingLEDs as the headlight in vehicles (for example cars, trucks, transportlorry's etc.). The amount of light (high-beam or low beam) can becontrolled by the number of active groups of nanowires. That is, themore active groups means more emitted light. In addition, differentgroups of nanowires can be attributed to different lighting modes, forexample one mode for highway driving, one mode for country driving, andone mode for adverse weather driving etc., as illustrated in FIG. 8.

One way to fabricate such a device is to grow an array or arrays ofnanowires on top of an n-doped GaN buffer on a substrate. The nanowiresare arranged as a uniform array or a set of sub-arrays with gaps, eachsub-array corresponding to an individual pixel. The nanowires consist ofan n-doped GaN core, an active radial InGaN layer and a p-doped shell.During post processing the nanowires are first coated with a metal stackthat forms p-contact to the shell, metallic reflector and metal bondpads. The metal layers are patterned to form the individual pixels ofthe device. These pixels are electrically isolated from each other.Subsequently a common n-contact to the buffer is formed in the areaoutside the active area of the display. There the nanowires are locallyremoved e.g. by etching and the underlying insulating mask layer isremoved to expose the GaN buffer layer. The n-contacts are applied to itand contact pads are formed. The nanowire LED die made on the substrateis placed on a sub-mount wafer having contact pads corresponding to thepositions of p- and n-contact pads on the nanowire LED die made on thesubstrate, and attached using soldering or ultrasonic welding. Thesub-mount wafer can also contain an active transistor current sourcematrix for driving the LED pixels. Then, the material of the originalsubstrate is removed by grinding, etching, lapping, or a combination ofthese methods. Finally, a layer of colour converting phosphor can beapplied on the surface where the light exits the structure, to producewhite light from for example blue light emission.

In another embodiment of the invention, the light-reflecting contactlayer 130 on top of the nanowires is aluminum or silver. Silver, amongthe metals, has the best reflection coefficient in the visible region ofthe optical spectra, but is more prone to exhibit corrosion damage innormal atmosphere if not capped inside a structure. Si₃N₄, SiO₂, Al₂O₃or any other stable dielectric can be used as a capping layer. Afterdeposition the capping layer is preferably patterned to allow exclusiveand individual electrical contact to the mirror layer of individualnanowires or groups of nanowires. Aluminum is another good option. Ithas a reflective index in the visible region somewhat lower than silver,but exhibits very good corrosion resistance in dry atmosphericenvironments. In order to improve device reliability additionaldielectric capping as described above may still be desired. Possibleother solutions are non-metallic high reflectivity materials thatactually can reach higher reflectivity coefficients than silver inspecific wavelength intervals when for example integrated intoengineered Bragg reflector stacks. These include dielectric multi layersfrom compounds such as SiO₂, Si₃N₄, and Al₂O₃. Such dielectric mirrorsare electrically non-conductive. Therefore they should be combined withtransparent conductive materials like Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) depositedonto the nanowires prior to the multilayer dielectric mirrors.Multilayer dielectric mirror must then be patterned to allow electricalconnection to the transparent conductor and thus to the device.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the light-reflectingcontact layer 130 is deposited on top of the nanostructured LED suchthat the light-reflecting contact layer 130 extends down the sidewallsof the peripheral nanowires for at least one group of nanowires of thefirst area. This further improves the efficiency of the nanostructuredLED, since with this arrangement there is only one direction for thegenerated light to leave the structure, and this is the directionpreferred and defined by the user. In all other directions the lightwill be reflected until it exits through the only open exit.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the nanostructured LEDis glued onto a new carrier wafer 280, using glue having high electricalconductivity. This is preferably done when the new carrier wafer 280does not comprise a complex pattern of leads, but is merely a largecontact area intended to supply power to the LEDs. Nevertheless, thegluing technique can also be used for more demanding applications with amore complex pattern of leads.

A carrier that acts as a new carrier wafer 280 can have different forms.It can be a new substrate for further processing. It can be amicroelectronic structure, where the LED chip adds just anotherimportant feature to the complete device. The new wafer can also be awafer that supplies only the electronic leads to feed the LED structurewhen assembled together. Wafer in this sense is not intended to belimiting and comprise only semiconductor materials. It can also be e.g.a glass substrate or any other substrate offering sufficient structuralsupport.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a nanostructured LEDcomprises at least one nanowire and a contacting means, wherein eachnanowire protrudes from a substrate, each nanowire comprises a pn- orp-i-n-junction (160) and a top portion (140) of each nanowire is coveredwith a transparent contact layer. The contacting means is in electricalcontact with the bottom portion (145) of each nanowire and thetransparent contact layer is in electrical contact with the contactingmeans via the pn- or p-i-n-junction where the contacting means is afirst group of contact pads (190) that are distributed and separatedfrom each other.

In this embodiment, the transparent contact layer is also preferablydistributed and arranged as contact pads such that every contact padexclusively and individually connects electrically to one nanowire orone group of nanowires. In this way, this embodiment can be applied inthe same manner as described earlier in the application, with thedistinction that the light is emitted through the top portion of thenanowires, instead of being reflected in the top portion and beingemitted through the bottom portion instead. Thus, in this embodiment thenanostructured LED does not need to be bonded to for example a carrierwafer.

It is to be understood by a person skilled in the art, that thep-contact and the re-contact can be used interchangeably, such that thep-contact is not restricted to be used as the top contact that contactsthe top of the nanowires, and the n-contact is not restricted to be usedas the contact that contacts the bottom part of the nanowires. While theinvention has been described in connection with what is presentlyconsidered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is tobe understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosedembodiments On the contrary, is intended to cover various modificationsand equivalent arrangements within the scope of the appended claims.

1-14. (canceled)
 15. A nanostructured LED comprising: a plurality ofnanowires; a substrate; and at least one group of contact pads; wherein:each of the plurality of nanowires protrudes from the substrate and eachnanowire comprises a pn- or p-i-n-junction; a top portion of eachnanowire or at least one group of nanowires from the plurality ofnanowires is covered with a light-reflecting or transparent contactlayer to form at least one contact group of nanowires; the at least onegroup of contact pads is in electrical contact with a bottom portion ofeach of the plurality of nanowires; the light-reflecting or transparentcontact layer is in electrical contact with the at least one group ofcontact pads via the pn- or p-i-n-junction; and the at least one groupof contact pads is a first group of contact pads in which the contactpads are distributed and separated from each other to reduce an averageserial resistance.
 16. The nanostructured LED according to claim 15,wherein the substrate comprises a buffer layer between a substratematerial and the plurality of nanowires.
 17. The nanostructured LEDaccording to claim 15, wherein the light-reflecting or transparentcontact layer defines a plurality of contact groups of nanowires. 18.The nanostructured LED according to claim 15, further comprising asecond group of distributed contact pads distributed on top of a surfaceformed by the light-reflecting or transparent contact layer.
 19. Thenanostructured LED according to claim 18, wherein one or more contactpads in the second group of contact pads is in individual contact withat least one contact group of nanowires such that the at least onecontact group of nanowires can be addressed individually andindependently of other groups of nanowires.
 20. The nanostructured LEDaccording to claim 15, wherein the plurality of nanowires contains aplurality of contact groups of nanowires that can be addressedindividually and independently of other groups of nanowires.
 21. Thenanostructured LED according to claim 16, wherein all contact pads ofthe first group of distributed contact pads are connected through thebuffer layer.
 22. The nanostructured LED according to claim 15, whereinthe plurality of nanowires and the first group of distributed contactpads are located on the same side of the substrate.
 23. Thenanostructured LED according to claim 15, wherein said nanostructuredLED further comprises a carrier structure which is bonded to the firstgroup of contact pads and second group of contact pads.
 24. Thenanostructured LED according to claim 15, wherein at least one of thefirst group of contact pads and a second group of contact pads formarrays.
 25. The nanostructured LED according to claim 15, wherein thelight-reflecting or transparent contact layer comprises an aluminium orsilver light-reflecting contact layer.
 26. The nanostructured LEDaccording to claim 15, wherein the light-reflecting or transparentcontact layer comprises a light-reflecting contact layer which extendsdown sidewalls of a peripheral portion of the plurality of nanowires.27. The nanostructured LED according to claim 15, wherein thelight-reflecting or transparent contact layer comprises a Zn_(x)O_(1-x)or In_(x)Sn_(y)O_(1-x-y) transparent contact layer.
 28. Thenanostructured LED according to claim 15, wherein said nanostructuredLED is glued onto a carrier structure.
 29. The nanostructured LEDaccording to claim 15, further comprising: a carrier structure; a firstplurality of bumps electrically connecting the first group of contactpads to the carrier structure; and a second plurality of bumpselectrically connecting a second group of contact pads to the carrierstructure.
 30. The nanostructured LED according to claim 29, wherein:the substrate comprises a light-transmissive buffer layer; each of theplurality of nanowires protrudes from a first surface of the bufferlayer; the first group of contact pads is located on the first surfaceof the buffer layer; a phosphor is located over a second surface of thebuffer layer; the light-reflecting or transparent contact layercomprises a light-reflecting contact layer; and the second group ofcontact pads is located on the light-reflecting contact layer.
 31. Thenanostructured LED according to claim 15, wherein: each of the pluralityof nanowires protrudes from a first surface of the substrate; a phosphoris located over the plurality of nanowires protruding from the firstsurface of the buffer layer; and the light-reflecting or transparentcontact layer comprises a transparent contact layer.
 32. Ananostructured LED comprising: a plurality of nanowires; a substrate; afirst group of contact pads; and a second group of contact pads; acarrier structure; a first plurality of bumps electrically connectingthe first group of contact pads to the carrier structure; and a secondplurality of bumps electrically connecting a second group of contactpads to the carrier structure; wherein: each of the plurality ofnanowires protrudes from the substrate and each nanowire comprises asemiconductor pn- or p-i-n-junction; a top portion of at least one groupof nanowires from the plurality of nanowires is covered with alight-reflecting contact layer to form at least one contact group ofnanowires; the first group of contact pads is in electrical contact witha bottom portion of each of the plurality of nanowires; and the secondgroup of contact pads is in electrical contact with the light-reflectingcontact layer.
 33. The nanostructured LED according to claim 32,wherein: the substrate comprises a light-transmissive buffer layer; eachof the plurality of nanowires protrudes from a first surface of thebuffer layer; the first group of contact pads is located on the firstsurface of the buffer layer; a phosphor is located over a second surfaceof the buffer layer; and the second group of contact pads is located onthe light-reflecting contact layer.